uMabhengwaneExample from lesson with Josh – Ubungathini? I parsed this as follows: U-be-{wo-}nga-THI-ni? The root of this predicative interrogative sentence is the following: THI, an irregular verb denoting to Say, Speak or Mean. Reading the particles of the verb as it is expressed, the following is the combined meaning: You-contingent-{remote}can-SAY-what? Translated as: What would you […]
You hear a word, and something in it sticks in you. You hear it often enough, and it starts to take on a specific meaning depending on when you hear it. You grow to understand it, and even use it. But it nags at you. It begs to be investigated. So you track it down, […]
It is on Saturday that the differences seem to be most stark. Driving to Wits University for a debating tournament, I am greeted by the amaZulu understanding of Saturdays – burial and wedding announcements, imingcwabo nemishado, followed by Maskandi and Gospel on UKhozi FM. Of the four teenagers in the car, only one is anywhere […]
In the evenings, after work, my other job begins. I go to people’s houses all over Joburg, lugging a small black bag filled with dictionaries and books of proverbs, old grammar books and tattered notes. The people I visit are monolingual, largely, or at best they speak two languages from the Indo-European family, such as […]
The loss of language, and so the imperative to preserve language, is actually a fight about the basic metaphors that make up our world. Language is not just language. Language is also the impetus for culture, in that the metaphors and ways of seeing and being and doing, and even the very structure of each […]
What monoglots, especially English monoglots, fail to realise is just how limited their world is. Their perception of the universe is coloured by the fact that they can only interact with people who speak their language, and they judge people based on how well or badly they speak it. They can only think about the […]
Some might be offended by the way I talk about myself, and some might even go so far as to say it’s impossible for someone to be White and a Zulu at the same time. So, this is a blog to explain what I mean by the name ‘White Zulu’. If you don’t know anything […]
Hi Everyone ! This blog is about my experiences of the language that I grew up with, that formed itself alongside the English of my mother as my father-tongue: the language of heaven, isiZulu. Here is where you’ll find my reflections on being a bilingual white man in South Africa, as I move between translating, […]
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